GOP Schools Obama on Partisanship

This is an excerpt from an interesting article comparing the GOP’s position against Bill Clinton in 1993 and today’s GOP position regarding the Obama administration.

Via Consortium News

It is possible that President Barack Obama genuinely believes in reaching out to Republicans or perhaps he is just going through the motions because he knows the American people favor bipartisanship. But he can no longer harbor any real hope that his overtures to the GOP will bring significant votes for his policies.

Obama continued to pursue his goal of a post-partisan Washington. His first post-Inaugural trip to Capitol Hill on Jan. 27 involved meetings with House and Senate Republicans, not Democrats.

Already, Obama had devoted about one-third of the stimulus package to tax cuts aimed at winning over some Republican votes. He weathered Democratic complaints that the tax cuts prevented additional spending on the nation's infrastructure, a strategy that many economists say would generate more jobs and provide longer-term value to the nation.

Despite his concessions, Obama ended up getting whip-sawed by Republicans who complained that the tax cuts weren't big enough and, ironically, some joined in castigating him for shorting the infrastructure spending. In the end, his personal appeals and his deletions of some items opposed by Republicans still failed to secure a single Republican
vote for the House bill.

So, in a replay of 1993, the Republicans made clear with their unanimous vote against the stimulus bill that they - like Rush Limbaugh - are determined to see the new President fail.

Now, the question is whether Obama will give up his quixotic bid to woo Republicans - and instead support a stimulus package that will do the most to help the country - or whether he will continue making more concessions to the Republicans in hopes that they will undergo a sudden transformation.

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